Oversight Hearing on Steroids in Baseball

The Oversight Committee is currently holding a hearing, "The Mitchell Report: The Illegal Use of Steroids in Major League Baseball." This first hearing will include testimony from Senator George Mitchell, Mr. Bud Selig, and Mr. Don Fehr. Invited witnesses for the second hearing include Mr. Brian McNamee, Mr. Kirk Radomski, Mr. Andy Pettitte, Mr. Chuck Knoblauch, and Mr. Roger Clemens.

Watch the hearing live via committee webcast or on C Span 2.

Chairman Henry Waxman gives opening remarks [full remarks]:

Chairman Waxman: "Frank and Brenda Marrero, the parents of Efrain Marrero, are here this morning, along with Don Hooten. Ephrain Marrero was a promising 19-year-old college athlete who turned to steroids and ultimately committed suicide. In his memory, Mr. and Mrs. Marrero have established a foundation to fight steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. They have also submitted testimony for this hearing, and I ask unanimous consent that it be made part of the record. I want to close by reading from their statement. It reads: 'Simple, honest accountability is all we are asking for... No family should have to endure the anguish we've suffered -- but tens of thousands of youngsters are at risk. For them we ask you to dig deep -- find the unvarnished truth and report it fairly.'"

Senator George Mitchell gives opening testimony [full testimony (pdf)]:

George Mitchell: "The Commissioner was right to ask for this investigation and report. It would have been impossible to get closure on this issue without it, or something like it. It's appropriate to acknowledge, Mr. Chairman, that it was you and this committee who originally suggested that such an inquiry be conducted. But it is now time to look to the future, to get on with the important and difficult task that lies ahead. I urge everyone involved in Major League Baseball to join in a well-planned, well-executed, and sustained effort to bring the era of steroids and human growth hormone to an end and to prevent its recurrence in some other form in the future. That's the only way this cloud will be removed from the game."

Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton questions Senator George Mitchell on the allegations against Roger Clemens and the witness against him, Brian McNamee:

George Mitchell: "Mr. McNamee had an overwhelming incentive to tell the truth. The third and last interview was in early December, 2007, just before we released the report. The purpose was to make absolutely certain that we had accurately understood and reported his statements to us."

Extended transcript:

Senator Mitchell: "Mr. McNamee had an overwhelming incentive to tell the truth. The third and last interview was in early December, 2007, just before we released the report. The purpose was to make absolutely certain that we had accurately understood and reported his statements to us. And to make certain that we'd achieved that objective, a senior member of my investigative staff read to him verbatim the portions of the report that were attributed to him. At the conclusion of the interview, as we had at the beginning, we reminded him that all we wanted was the truth. We asked him if he was completely comfortable with the truth and accuracy of the statements which would be included in the report, and he said that he was, he had a couple of minor suggestions that had no material affect on the report, and we proceeded on that basis. And as noted, I asked Mr. Clemens to meet with me, to give him an opportunity to respond to the allegations, and he declined."

Chairman Waxman: "Senator Mitchell, in other words, despite the public presentation by Mr. Clemens that the testimony was not accurate, you continued to feel comfortable with Mr. McNamee's credibility?"

Senator Mitchell: "We believe that the statements provided to us were truthful."

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig gives opening testimony [full testimony (pdf)]:

Selig: "As I said in March 2006, 'nothing is more important to me than the integrity of the game of baseball.' I strongly believed 21 months ago, and I continue to believe today, that Baseball needed to fully, honestly and publicly confront the use of performance enhancing substances by players. I knew that an investigation would be an extraordinarily difficult undertaking. I knew that an investigation would be painful for all of those associated with the sport. No other sport had confronted its past in such a way. But I knew that Baseball must undertake that journey in order to preserve the integrity of our game and maintain credibility with the millions of baseball fans throughout the world."

Donald Fehr, Executive Director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, gives opening testimony [full testimony (pdf)]:

Fehr: "The MLBPA fulfilled it responsibilities. Where we thought we could cooperate with the Mitchell investigation we did. Where the rights of our members needed to be asserted, we did that. We gave appropriate legal advice to the players (and to their individual counsel) with respect to the employment consequences of the investigation, and urged players to retain individual counsel where that was appropriate. In many ways, we thought the conduct of the investigation was unfair. But, for the most part, we have avoided speaking publicly about those issues, and it would serve no purpose to do so here."